Persistent Organic Pollutants enter into the food chain

Plastic acts like a sponge for contaminants. It absorbs toxic chemicals which have washed into the sea over the years, even after bans have been placed on the chemicals. Some of the worst of are PCBs and DDT. Little plastic bits become highly concentrated with these toxins

From the smallest organisms eating microdebris, to the small fry who feast on plankton and ingest plastic during their foraging, to the large fish consumed by humans, POPs absorbed by plastic may be working their way up the food chain to us by way of fish inadvertently eating the plastic bits. Studies are under way on whether or not their meat absorbs the POPs which would then work its way up the food chain to humans.